Wholly untrue. And you better hope it's untrue.
People go see what is available, but people are also begining to look for the art house stuff. If that weren't true, there would have been no place for Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction. No place for a film like Pi or Magnolia and certainly no place for David Lynch.
See, I'm still kinda swinging towards "availability" isn't worth jack, if the masses don't know it, if the media or a big name haven't jumped on it, they won't spend their wages to see it in a movie theater. We are now decades down the line from both directors, it was the UK who initially gave Tarantino's movies the time of day to watch them, if they hadn't created the buzz of treating it as real feature and not some churned out B-side, there would be no Tarantino. The names he had helped too. True Romance was just as good as Pulp Fiction, directed by Tony Scott -who wasn't doing half bad at the time but it's still T's work and you can see that from the get-go. Two years prior it premiered in the US and wasn't given the time of day, only when Tarantino got some acclaim did it become a 'Cult Classic', yet half the people i ask still don't have a damn clue what it is.
It's just as much about timing as it is making a great movie. "Slumdog" had Danny Boyle who was yet to really cane the fests, Trainspotting was a bit here and there, the media where certainly not going to parade it as a crown jewel that's for sure. Yet Slumdog was an all out shock, no big names, the story isn't that unique but it's sure shot well, great soundtrack. It was advertised more than I've ever seen anything advertised in my life, amazing marketing.
What is different now, is Indies are separate, there is a clear divide, they look like indies, they are advertised like indies, and i love that.
Example.
"Let The Right One In" an outstanding piece of cinema was shown in theaters across the world, now everybody didn't see it, there was a distinct core that did, it got buzz from fests so the award scouts sure as hell went to see it, and it raked in a lot of wins. So here we are 2 years from it's release, and we have a remake ladies and gentlemen, let's make it what
everybody will enjoy. There will be a hands full worth of indies that will make it through, but they'll fall under the carpet unless they have a sterling director that is groundbreaking, or an entire factory of marketing minions at their disposal.
Cinemas have got to value their audiences and not just drool over the quick buck, but none of them are going to take the chance of lowering their prices of Indies especially, incase the movies bomb and they go out of business. It has to happen if we want to see cinemas still standing, it'll be a slow process, but lower the prices and you'll see the audiences checking movies they maybe didn't give a damn about.
NOTE: I won't speak on the comment made about the mass public being "Stupid", that's a little naive slugger. Plus the percentages you're giving us are a constructed purely of your own being, there's no truth to any ratio you've given to us.
